Gary Marker, American bassist and recording engineer, Died at 72

Gary Marker was born on May 23, 1943 and died on December 8, 2015.

He was an American bass guitarist and recording engineer, best known for his involvement in various psychedelic rock bands of the 1960s.

He studied at Berklee College of Music.

Gary ‘Magic’ Marker was a bass player with jazz leanings,

Gary was a member of the Rising Sons between 1964 and 1966, along with Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal.

Gary met many people on the way, including Don Vliet.

Maker helped with Vliet’s musical education and played with Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band on a number of occasions but was unwilling to kowtow to the large Beefheart ego on a regular basis.

The magic man was involved in the early production work on Safe As Milk, but this material did not feature on the final issue.

On one occasion Gary stood in for Jerry Handley on bass at live shows during 1964-67 and joined the Magic Band for a short spell in 1968-69 (“Moonlight On Vermont” and “Veteran’s Day Poppy” from Trout Mask Replica are the only two surviving tracks which feature his bass playing – a third track, a reworking of ‘Kandy Korn’, has disappeared).

This archived track resides among the ‘Brown Wrapper’ project.

He was involved with two other bands, the Jazz Folk and the New World Jazz Company (which also included John Locke, Randy California and Ed Cassidy before moving on to form Spirit), were never recorded.

Marker played in numerous bands (and with many performers) over the years, and was a regular session musician as well working as an engineer/producer.

His band Fusion recorded a 1969 album entitled Border Town which featured Ry Cooder.

Gary Marker featured on an album by Juicy Groove, alongside vocalist Michael Rainbow Neal , guitarists Mars Bonfire (ex-Steppenwolf), Elliot Ingber and drummer Thundercloud, son of former bandmate Ed Cassidy in 1978.

Gary Marker passed away at 72 yrs old due to a Stroke.